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DFA, DOLE meet to streamline programs, services for OFWs

Officials from the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) and the Department of Labor and Employment met on Friday, October 5, to discuss current programs implemented by the Philippine government for overseas Filipino workers (OFWs).

Foreign affairs secretary Alan Peter Cayetano said that the meeting sought to streamline programs by different government agencies to help OFWs, particularly returning OFWs, identify which assistance or service they need, reported Rappler.

“Minsan ‘yung OFW, hinihintay pa bago ng sampung taon bago makauwi bago mag-negosyo. But after 3 to 5 years, eh pwede na. Then maybe [by identifying these programs,] we can help how they can move forward,” Cayetano said.

Meanwhile, labor secretary Silvestre Bello III said the meeting was held following recommendations from OFWs that the government must improve their services and make them more accessible.

The purpose of this meeting is to discuss how we can put our activities to maximize [and] optimize our services to OFWs. Every day, every minute, we receive text messages coming from distressed OFWs so we really need to fix our services,” Bello said.

A group was also tasked to collate all government programs across all departments and agencies and draft a “menu” of all the programs which OFWs can easily check.

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